• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

The line between political reporting and fan fiction continues to blur.

SCOTUS: It’s not “bribery” unless it comes from the Bribery region of France. Otherwise, it’s merely “sparkling malfeasance”.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

It’s easy to sit in safety and prescribe what other people should be doing.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

… gradually, and then suddenly.

The press swings at every pitch, we don’t have to.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

Trump should be leading, not lying.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

We need to vote them all out and restore sane Democratic government.

This really is a full service blog.

“What are Republicans afraid of?” Everything.

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Giving in to doom is how we fail to fight for ourselves & one another.

Quote tweet friends, screenshot enemies.

Let me file that under fuck it.

Consistently wrong since 2002

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Technically true, but collectively nonsense

Mobile Menu

  • 4 Directions VA 2025 Raffle
  • 2025 Activism
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / John Cole Presents "This Fucking Old House" / Homecoming is Over

Homecoming is Over

by John Cole|  October 2, 20226:31 pm| 29 Comments

This post is in: John Cole Presents "This Fucking Old House"

FacebookTweetEmail

And I have the first cold that is not just a sinus infections since 2019, reinforcing my belief that no good comes from socializing with people.

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « ‘ They’re Not That Smart’: Musk & His Cronies Open Thread
Next Post: Ready for Submissions: Have You Selected Your Pics for the 2023 Pet Calendar? Final Preview of 2022 Pets of Balloon Juice: Calendar B! 1»

Reader Interactions

29Comments

  1. 1.

    JPL

    October 2, 2022 at 6:37 pm

    My cold is from grand imp so totally worth it.

  2. 2.

    JPL

    October 2, 2022 at 6:40 pm

    So this happened yesterday, the one year old figured out how to put on the Bosc cd player and then played the linkamals at the same time.   Believe me it was like a frat party but with kiddy noises.

    The Bosc is a swipe so could have been accidental, but he definitely knows how to start the linkamals.

  3. 3.

    zhena gogolia

    October 2, 2022 at 6:48 pm

    I’m glad it’s over, sorry you’re sick.

  4. 4.

    raven

    October 2, 2022 at 6:49 pm

    So is Boolebark and PorchFest!

  5. 5.

    geg6

    October 2, 2022 at 6:58 pm

    @JPL:

    What is a linkamal?  Never heard the word.

  6. 6.

    schrodingers_cat

    October 2, 2022 at 7:00 pm

    I agree I got my first really bad cold since COVID-19 came into our lives while traveling in India.

  7. 7.

    catclub

    October 2, 2022 at 7:02 pm

    reinforcing my belief that no good comes from socializing with people.

    herd immunity…. eventually.

  8. 8.

    WaterGirl

    October 2, 2022 at 7:03 pm

    Enjoy the silence and the solitude.

    *silence includes all the dog and cat noises.

  9. 9.

    steppy

    October 2, 2022 at 7:06 pm

    That’s funny (yeesh, not ha-ha). I am just getting over my first cold in 3 years myself. I tested negative, so I know it’s a cold. Socializing is just the cost of doing business.

  10. 10.

    JPL

    October 2, 2022 at 7:09 pm

    @geg6: since you asked  Amazon.com: Fisher-Price Linkimals Play Together Panda, musical learning plush toy for babies and toddlers : Toys & Games

    My Bosc has a Raffi disc so totally different but little one loves the lights and action on linkamals.   He can press one in the kitchen and then goes to the dining room to see the others respond.   It’s a lot of noise though.

     

    Initially I copied something to ask my DIL about the three year old.

  11. 11.

    LeftCoastYankee

    October 2, 2022 at 7:10 pm

    reinforcing my belief that no good comes from socializing with people

    Anti-social curmudgeons of the world unite!  Ok, that’s too close… back up some over there….

  12. 12.

    ronno2018

    October 2, 2022 at 7:17 pm

    well wear a mask everywhere inside where people are???  I think that helps a lot?

  13. 13.

    jeffreyw

    October 2, 2022 at 7:29 pm

    #OnThisDay in 1861, Charles Darwin wrote to his friend "But I am very poorly today and very stupid and hate everybody and everything." https://t.co/9IjZ8G8LKx pic.twitter.com/TNgTeSal2S— Paige Madison (@FossilHistory) October 1, 2022

  14. 14.

    lowtechcyclist

    October 2, 2022 at 7:30 pm

    The kiddo had a great time at his high school’s homecoming dance last night. Looked real sharp, too, in black shirt and black slacks.

  15. 15.

    pat

    October 2, 2022 at 7:44 pm

    My “common cold” in March turned out to be Covid.

    Get a test, stay away from people (yeah, I know you will…..)

  16. 16.

    Betsy

    October 2, 2022 at 7:51 pm

    I lost one of my oldest friends a few days ago and learned about her passing today. We’d stayed in touch 32 years, although less often in the last ten years or so. Of course I wish I’d called more frequently.

    It’s been a tough year. She was smart and funny and kind.  I have lost several dear people this year and I almost feel like there is not anyone left to talk to. 

  17. 17.

    geg6

    October 2, 2022 at 7:55 pm

    @JPL:

    Thanks for explaining.  I’d consider getting that for my grand-niece and —nephews but my niece would probably murder me.  Three under 3 are going to be enough (one is not quite here yet.  He’s due in December.).

  18. 18.

    dww44

    October 2, 2022 at 8:30 pm

    @Betsy:  I am so sorry for your loss of your friend.  Losing one’s peers are, for me, the hardest losses to overcome.  I hope you are able to find peace, and even a bit of joy as time passes.

  19. 19.

    Ohio Mom

    October 2, 2022 at 8:48 pm

    @Betsy: It’s true, there’s no friend like an old friend. There’s no replacing shared history; it’s hard breaking new friends in, hell, it’s hard finding someone you want to put the effort into.

    But what choice do we have? I say this as someone who is also at a crossroads. In the past few years I’ve loss a couple of friends to death and a number more to distance (though who could blame them for leaving Ohio?). We do our best to text and email and call but it isn’t the same as being together in person.

    I hope you are able to make peace with these awful losses — of course there is no time line to grief, it takes as long as it takes. I hope also you are able to find the wherewithal to search for a new person or two “to talk to.” In the mean time, we are all here for you in these comment threads.

  20. 20.

    Mel

    October 2, 2022 at 9:06 pm

    @Betsy: I’m so sorry. Your friend sounds like the kind of friend that is what my late friend Jen called “heart family”. I lost her, suddenly and unexpectedly, 10 years ago after a 35 year friendship.

    It’s a shock to every part of the system when someone you love and have loved for so many years is suddenly gone.

    You are in my thoughts tonight, as is your friend. Please take extra good care of yourself, and know that your friend knew how very much you cared about her.

    Sending you a hug.

  21. 21.

    persistentillusion

    October 2, 2022 at 9:22 pm

    @LeftCoastYankee: Introverts of the World, Unite! Somewhere in Montana, where there’s room to spread out

     

    ETA: I’m sorry to hear of so much loss tonight. Somebody said “May the thought of them bring a tear to your eye and a warm feeling to your heart.”

  22. 22.

    Splitting Image

    October 2, 2022 at 9:27 pm

    My workplace began bringing remote workers back to the office at the beginning of September. Most departments are coming in only one day a week, remote working the rest of the time. My department is small, only four people, two on the day shift and two in the evenings.

    So four people coming in one day a week, for four weeks. One person on vacation for two of those weeks. That’s fourteen shifts altogether.

    Yesterday my partner on the evening shift told me that she tested positive for COVID. She tested negative on Friday but positive on Saturday. I have no symptoms and haven’t tested positive yet, so crossing my fingers, but still. Four weeks of four people working one day a week to get a positive.

    “COVID is over”. Sure.

  23. 23.

    Suzanne

    October 2, 2022 at 10:11 pm

    @Splitting Image: My office supposedly “returned to office” in June, I think. I say “I think” because they have mandated three days a week in the office and not many people are doing it. I live across the state, so I have an “as needed” arrangement. And now they released a new WFH policy to deal with people who moved out of the area and new hires they’re getting outside of the area who are fully remote. It just doesn’t seem to be working out.

    And we still have the occasional positive and then all their close contacts have to stay home and it’s just a big hassle and I don’t think offices are worth any of it.

  24. 24.

    wenchacha

    October 2, 2022 at 10:21 pm

    Got my Moderna bivalent booster Wednesday, think I will get a flu shot tomorrow. I’m flying to San Jose via NYC in a little over a week, to see my son and his family and probably all the germs my grandson brings home from daycare. Worth it!

    My son got Covid last week, my DIL and grandson tests neg, so far. Maybe they already had asymptomatic cases; hard to tell.

  25. 25.

    rikyrah

    October 2, 2022 at 11:10 pm

    Take care, Cole🙏🏿🙏🏿

  26. 26.

    Betsy

    October 2, 2022 at 11:44 pm

    @dww44:

    @Ohio Mom:

    @Mel:

    @persistentillusion:

    Thanks to each of you for the kind thoughts and kind words.

  27. 27.

    Nancy

    October 2, 2022 at 11:45 pm

    @Betsy:

    Sympathies don’t seem like enough.

    It’s tough to lose treasured friends, impossible to imagine ever finding new friends, so hard to find the energy to think about how one meets people.

    Sad for your losses, glad you are here, in virtuality and spirit, among people who surely understand loss.

  28. 28.

    Nancy

    October 2, 2022 at 11:48 pm

    @Betsy:

    Sympathies don’t seem like enough.

    It’s tough to lose treasured friends, impossible to imagine ever finding new friends, so hard to find the energy to think about how one meets people.

    Sad for your losses, glad you are here, in virtuality and spirit, among people who surely understand loss.

  29. 29.

    xjmuellerlurks

    October 3, 2022 at 10:49 am

    I vant to be alone…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLGCHAO1u-M

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

On The Road - dmkingto - SF Bay Area Scenes 7
Image by dmkingto (7/31/25)
Donate

Recent Comments

  • chemiclord on Unraveling (Open Thread) (Jul 16, 2025 @ 11:05am)
  • PaulWartenberg on Unraveling (Open Thread) (Jul 16, 2025 @ 11:02am)
  • Bill Arnold on Unraveling (Open Thread) (Jul 16, 2025 @ 11:01am)
  • Tony Jay on Unraveling (Open Thread) (Jul 16, 2025 @ 10:58am)
  • WTFGhost on Unraveling (Open Thread) (Jul 16, 2025 @ 10:56am)

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
No Kings Protests June 14 2025

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

Feeling Defeated?  If We Give Up, It's Game Over

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!